2000 presidential ballots to be saved

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 8 (UPI) -- The state of Florida has decided to save the ultimate souvenirs from the 2000 presidential election mess -- the ballots, hanging chad and all.

More than 6 million punch-card ballots are being packed up and moved to the climate-controlled state archives in Tallahassee.

As you might expect from Florida, however, there is a small problem. Mark Anderson of Panama City, elections supervisor of for Bay County, has already thrown his away. He thought the state had given elections supervisors permission to discard them.

Many of the state's 67 county elections supervisors wish the state had done that a long time ago, because the ballots have created a big storage problem.

The law allows ballots to be destroyed after 22 months, but the Florida Secretary of State's office asked elections supervisors to hang onto them until July while officials decided what to do with them.

This week Secretary of State Glenda Hood told the supervisors by mail the ballots will be trucked at state expense to the State Archives.

Among the punch cards are the so-called butterfly ballots from Palm Beach County that were so confusing, many people voted for the wrong candidate.

Elections supervisor Theresa LePore, who is happy to get rid of the cards, said though some officials said they might stop by the archives in the future for a look, she would not.

"I've seen enough of them. Trust me," she said.

The recounts in various counties lasted 36 days in late 2000. Some ballots were trucked to Tallahassee as news helicopters hovered overhead, tracking their movement.

Finally, the Supreme Court halted the recount and President Bush had outpolled former Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes. That margin gave Bush all of Florida's electoral votes and that was enough to elect him president.